AND RESENTMENT RIDES HIGH

Bane was right when he said that his hideout wasn't small. The opposite actually, it was enormous. A complex of open rooms and staircases, and it was all rotating around a large waterfall in the middle. I didn't know what to make of it at first. It was almost beautiful in it's grime. Maybe I was the kind of person who saw beauty in places like this. It was brilliant really. No one would ever suspect anyone to be living down here. Why would they? Bane set me down on the metal grate and I followed him through the maze until we reached what seemed to be his office and bedroom. There was only really a small cot in the corner of the room, cut off from the rest of the compound by a curtain, and next to it were a multitude of monitors. I stared at them for a moment as information scrolled down the screen, numbers and letters that seemed to make no logical sense. Then I looked up at Bane.

"I have to stay here?" I asked, swallowing nervously.

"For the time being." He answered, "Until we find a more… permanent solution." I was slightly alarmed by his choice of words but I didn't say anything. Instead I walked towards the bed and collapsed on it tiredly. I closed my eyes and looked up at the ceiling. I could see people walking above me, their boots made a distinct sound on the metal.

"Where are you going to sleep?" I asked him without raising my head.

"I do not sleep here unless it is absolutely necessary." He said, "I shall be staying in my usual residence, the location of which is on a need to know basis. And you don' t need to know."

"Why can't I just stay with Daggett?" I asked.

"I do not trust him." Bane answered, "You could easily persuade him to let you go."

"You don't trust very many people do you?" I asked him. He didn't answer and I closed my eyes. The bed was even less comfortable then the hospital bed I had gotten used to few weeks ago. Suddenly my eyes popped open when I heard the distinct sound of my cell phone ringing. I searched my pocket and got out the noisy device. Bane was hovering over me now, giving me a pointed look. He grabbed the phone out of my hand and held it just out of my reach.

"If you reveal anything about our location or your situation I will not hesitate to snap your neck. Are we perfectly clear?" He spoke to me as if I were a petulant child. I nodded and he handed the phone back to me. I grit my teeth and answered it.

"Hello?"

"Hi…" The man on the other end said. The voice was unfamiliar and he seemed nervous, "Look, I'm sorry I didn't call earlier. Um, I should have called earlier. I know I should have, I just-"

"Who is this?" I asked abruptly.

"Oh yeah. Sorry, it's John. John Blake." He answered and suddenly I remembered. It was the guy from the gallery. I had totally forgotten about him.

"Oh, hello officer." I said flirtatiously. I looked up at Bane who didn't seem at all amused but I just waved him off, "And to what do I owe this pleasure?"

"I was wondering if maybe you wanted to, oh I don't know, grab coffee or something this week." He said. It's as if I could hear him blushing, "Talk, you know." I looked up at Bane before answering.

"Could you just hold on for a sec?" I asked and then put my hand over the receiving end of the phone, "He wants to go out with me."

"No." Bane answered simply.

"People are going to get suspicious if I suddenly drop off the face of the earth." I pointed out, "Maybe this way at least, I'll have a police officer willing to confirm that I'm alive and well."

"I do not trust you."

"I know, but you could send someone to accompany me. Keep an eye on me."

"No."

"But I like him."

Bane glared at me, "You do not seem to understand the gravity of the situation you are in." I rolled my eyes and took my hand off the phone.

"Sorry, that was my agent." I lied smoothly, "I can't do this week. I'm going to be out of town. But I would love to meet up with you when I get back." Bane suddenly started laughing. I looked up at him, astonished but he had already turned his back to me.

"Sure, yeah." He seemed a little disappointed, "That sounds good." I smiled despite myself. The man was cute.

"I'll save your number and this time I'll call you. I promise I will." I assured him.

"You're not blowing me off?" He laughed.

"Why would I want to do that?" I asked, "I think you underestimate your appeal Officer Blake." I teased. Bane looked about ready to snatch the phone out of my hand and throw it against the wall, "Look, I have to go. I'll talk to you again soon." And with that I hung up. Bane took the phone again and turned it off before putting it into his coat pocket along with that picture of me. I looked up at him resentfully but didn't say anything.

"Rest now." He pointed at the bed, "I have work to do." I wanted to argue but I didn't. My eyes were drooping closed on their own anyways.

When I woke up the next morning someone was standing over me. I jumped and shot up, ignoring my pounding head that protested against me rising so suddenly. The person above me was not the hulking figure that I had expected but a much slimmer man with no mask to hide his pursed lips. My voice was lost to me so I just took him in uneasily and searched the room for his master. Bane was nowhere to be found. The man cleared his throat, drawing my attention back to him.

"He wanted me to give you these." The scruffy man handed me what looked like a casual change of clothes.

"Where is he?" I asked.

"He has things to attend to." The man replied and was about to walk away when I jumped up and stopped him, grabbing him by the hand and dragging him back to me. At first he shook me off but he seemed intrigued enough to humor me.

"What is he doing down here?" I got a little closer to him, "I mean, I get the feeling that it's something big." I pouted my lips a little and slowly let my fingers play with his forearm. The man's body remained ridged but his eyes gave away his lust. I had assumed that these men didn't have much time to fraternize with the opposite sex and I used that to my advantage.

"It is. It's a revolution." He spoke passionately, "This city is going to get what it deserves."

"And what exactly does it deserve?" I asked huskily. My eyes glued on his.

"A reckoning." He whispered. That's when he started to grab for me but I just backed up, so that I was out of arm's length. I hastily picked up the camera from my bed and took a shot of him. He stood completely still in shock before regaining movement.

"What's your name?" I asked, my back to him now.

"Brian."

"Did you bring food or water with you too, Brian?"

"No." He answered. I could tell that he was a little dazed still so I took that opportunity to slip by him and trot down the stairs to the lower level of the complex.

"Hey, where are you going?" He called after me.

"No one chained me to anything, so I'm guessing that I can go wherever I want, as long as I don't leave the sewers." I called back. Brian ran after me.

"I don't know about that." He said latching on to my arm.

"Did he tell you otherwise?" I asked.

"No."

"Then let go of me." I said coldly. He hesitantly released my arm and I pushed by him. I wanted to see what they were doing.

I wondered around the place for what seemed like an eternity. Taking the odd photograph here and there, but really not finding anything or anyone to numb my boredom. Most importantly, I didn't find Bane. Finally I returned to the small room that I had slept in and someone brought me food and water shortly afterwards. I tried to work the computers but there was a pass code obviously and I didn't even bother trying to break it. Knowing Bane it was probably just a random assortment of letters and numbers, impossible for maybe even a computer hacker to solve. My eyelids grew heavy, as did my constitution to stay awake and wait for my captor to return. I lay down on the cot again, knowing full well that it wasn't late. I was emotionally exhausted. I didn't want to think about my situation, or what people were saying on the surface, or about when Bane would wander back in here and what he would do to me. So I slept instead.

I opened my eyes slowly. Men were talking, chatting and laughing on a different platform of the complex and the noise drifted into my ear, awakening me. I rolled over and saw Bane sitting on his chair, looking at something in his large hands. It took me a moment to realize that it was the photographs that I had taken yesterday. Before thinking it over, I quietly reached on the floor next to me and grabbed the camera. Lifting it I framed him in the shot, without showing what was in his hand and pressed down on the button. The camera made the distinctive click and flashed, before beginning to spew the picture out of it's front. He looked up at me slowly, thankfully he didn't look angry. He simply aligned the pictures into a single pile and put them down on the desk.

"You are talented I shall give you that." He said casually, "These are… interesting to say the least. You are interesting." He raised his hand, beckoning for me to come forward and I did hesitantly. He snatched the freshly taken portrait out of my hand and looked it over curiously. Then he absentmindedly put it with the others and grabbed me, forcing me to sit on his lap. Not like a child would sit on a parent's lap though, no not like that at all. I stared at him with wide eyes, not really sure what to do or say as he ran his fingers through my hair. Whether these were his first signs of affection or possession, I would never be sure, "Why did you scream and cry like a little girl when we tried to bring you down here? You are otherwise so unaffected by everything that has happened. What is it about small dark places that makes you scream with fright?" I didn't want to answer him. I had spent so much time trying to forget that I didn't even know if I could draw upon that memory if I tried.

"I don't remember." I said. I wondered if he could tell that I was lying. Either way he didn't call me on it.

"You are so young." He spoke almost reminiscently, "When did you become an artist?"

"I dropped out of school and ran away from home when I was 16." I told him, refusing to look into his eyes, "I started to get recognition for it when I around 18."

"And what about the 2 years in between?"

"I was living with my boyfriend, an older photographer who had seduced me into leaving everything I knew behind to strike out on my own with him." I laughed humorlessly, "Even though he had been an active artist for a while I brought home most of the money, from commissions and from waitressing." Bane continued to stroke my hair, his eyes fixed on my face. It was rather intimidating to have all of his attention on me like this.

"And where is this boyfriend of yours now?" He asked.

"He left me." I admitted. When I used to talk about it, I could never avoid the pain that would wash over me, but now I didn't feel anything, "I started becoming successful. I quit waitressing and devoted all my time to my own work, meaning I stopped being his little assistant as well. He didn't like that. He liked me as someone I wasn't, and I was happy being that person for a while. I was happy being demure and love struck and the devoted girlfriend until suddenly I wasn't. I guess I was something more than he thought I was and he couldn't stand it. So he told me I had changed, that I was sellout and that I was whoring myself in the spotlight. And then he left." Bane's eyes wrinkled and I think that meant that he was smiling.

"And where is he now?" He scoffed, "You are being exhibited all over the world, a fortune sitting in your bank account, international acclaim. And he left you." Bane chuckled and I couldn't help but smile too. Somehow his words made me feel good about myself. Something that very few people had been able to do, "What interesting taste in men you have my little starlet."

"I was young and stupid." I sighed wistfully, "He was older and promised me the world that I so desperately wanted. But besides how it all fell apart, leaving home was one of the best decisions I ever made." I smiled at him. He nodded thoughtfully.

"And what of this police officer that called?"

"John?" I wondered what he was getting at from this line of questioning, "We met at the gallery a week back. He didn't know who I was at first, which was nice, it made him honest. He's a good guy. A rare commodity in this city." I said, "So I gave him my number."

"I see…" Bane said.

"I see?"

"Yes." He responded. I just looked at him and shifted uncomfortably on top of him.

"Why are you asking me all this?" I wondered out loud. He shrugged, "Can I ask about you now?"

"No, you have to earn that." He answered. His face, thanks to the mask, was expressionless and completely unreadable even through looking in his eyes.

"And what can I do to earn it?" I asked hesitantly, my mind already going through various 'favors' he could ask of me.

"Be a good pet and I'll reward you." He stated, "Be a bad one and I'll punish you. It's as simple as that." My gaze turned venomous as I absorbed his words.

"I'm not your pet." I spat. His brow furrowed for a moment.

"But of course you are." He said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, "You're already curled up on my lap and letting me stroke you like one." I immediately tried to pull away from him but he held his grip and tugged on my hair, making me yelp in pain, "What did I say about misbehaving?"

"I. Am. Not. Your. Pet." I growled at him, "My whole life I've been treated like a pet by one man after another. But I am not yours." His mechanical laugh boomed in my ears and I flinched.

"Don't be silly." He said, brushing everything I said off with a wave of his hand, "Do you want me to chain you to the wall? Lock you up, allow you to waste away in total despair until you are begging, on your hands and knees, for me to allow you to please me? That would be such a shame, my little starlet."

"My name is Magdalene." I hissed. He gave me a sharp look before continuing.

"But that can all be arranged. I don't have time for disobedient little girls after all." His face was inches away from mine now, "Is that what you want Magdalene?"

"No." I whispered, trembling uncontrollably.

"See, you've rather given away your hand on this one. Small dark spaces, an easy threat to make. So what are you?"

"Whatever you want me to be." I said in defeat.

"And right now, I want a pet." He lifted me off of him easily as he stood up, "So are you going to be compliant?"

"Yes." I answered. He towered over me now.

"Good girl."

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